These days the MacBook Air starts at $999 if you want the diminutive 11-inch model, and $1299 for the 13-incher. With the 13-inch MacBook Pro starting at $1299, that smaller Air is the cheapest Mac laptop available. It’s a highly-contested topic in comment threads and forums around the web, but many people would agree it’s a fair price for a very good laptop. That said, $999 is a lot of money, and more than many people want to spend on a laptop, even if it is super thin, aluminum clad, and packing an SSD. A recent rumor has it that Apple could release a $799 MacBook Air before the year is over.
Details are sparse, but Digitimes has it that Apple’s affordable Air will be released in order to compete with Intel’s second generation of ultrabooks, which will be powered by Ivy Bridge processors. While any price drop on Apple’s part is rumor at this point, the reasoning why this would happen is clear. Intel has widen the definition of what is an ultrabook and, in doing so, has allowed for companies to produce more affordable laptops. These systems are often MacBook Air-like, making for a class of thin, lightweight, responsive computers that start at well under $1000.
Of course, the more the price drops the less buyers get, so the limit can only be pushed so far if companies like Acer and Toshiba want to take on the Air. The larger point is that manufacturers plan to push down the pricing on sub-1-inch laptops and Apple could drop their prices in response, if the rumor is accurate.
$799 would be a very aggressive price for a MacBook Air, assuming the company will use the same aluminum unibody and an SSD. A smaller SSD is possible, but the MBA’s chassis cannot accommodate a 2.5-inch disk, so there will have to be a solid state drive present. Reports put Apple’s cost of production for the $999 MacBook Air at $718 (albeit it in 2010, but there was also a $999 Air then) so it might be possible for Apple to do this, but the success of their laptop division and lack of offerings at this price point in the past make the move seem unlikely.
The article states that the availability of a $799 MacBook Air would be damaging to Intel’s ultrabook initiative, which not hard to believe given the success of the Air and the reactive stance of many of the ultrabook manufacturers.
For more reading check out Geek.com’s MacBook Air vs ultrabooks article.
via Digitimes
